Istanbul vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Istanbul	Thimphu
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1248	$422
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$3224	$1047
🏠 One person rent	$649	$145
🏘️ Family rent	$1199	$225
🍽️ Food expenses	$354	$176
🚐 Transport expenses	$125	$46
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$883	$550
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	95	5
😀 Quality of life	76	34
🏙️ Population	15.7M	115K

The cost of living in Istanbul is 196% more expensive than in Thimphu. Cities ranked 4347th and 8915th ($1248 vs $422) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 2nd in Turkey and Bhutan, respectively. Check Turkey vs Bhutan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Istanbul compared to 1.3 months in Thimphu. Istanbul ranked 1st best city to live in Turkey vs Thimphu ranked 1st in Bhutan, while ranked 850th and 7592nd among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Istanbul vs Thimphu infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/istanbul/thimphu.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Istanbul vs Thimphu infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/istanbul/thimphu" target="_blank">Istanbul vs Thimphu - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Istanbul vs Thimphu

Prices for goods and services in Istanbul and Thimphu are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Istanbul	Thimphu
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11	$3.18
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$49.1	$17.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.29	$4.04
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$4.14	$2.3
☕ Cappuccino	$3.37	$1.86
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.38	$0.54
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$853	$159
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$529	$94.7
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1671	$250
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$985	$161
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$41.3	$16.8
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$63.7	$25.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$13.4	$20.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	47.81%	10.76%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3233	$605
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1719	$920
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.74	$1.48
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$42.7	$27.1
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.79	$19.4
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$0.91
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.11	$0.84
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.79	$0.77
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.11	$0.72
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.36	$2.02
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.72	$4.92
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.14	$4.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.1	$4.11
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.37	$2.1
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.13	$1.4
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.2	$1.77
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.56	$0.77
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.61	$0.48
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.61	$0.55
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.38	$0.21
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.49	$1.06
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$11.1	$4.94
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.18	$0.73
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.19	$3.79
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.59	$1.58
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.23	$3.59
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.91	$1.25
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.38	$0.65
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$54.7	$38.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.81	$3.23
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$78.3	$28.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.76	$3.27
👖 Brand Jeans	$58.1	$32
👟 Brand Sneakers	$103	$43.9
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$815	$239
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$17728	$666

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Istanbul

Distance	City	Cost of living
40 km or 25 mi	Cayirova	$599
46 km or 28 mi	Gebze	$573
73 km or 45 mi	Korfez	$782
79 km or 49 mi	Kocaeli	$718
83 km or 51 mi	Golcuk	$835
87 km or 54 mi	Izmit	$1113
91 km or 56 mi	Kapakli	$701
92 km or 57 mi	Bursa	$743
96 km or 59 mi	Kartepe	$872
98 km or 61 mi	Corlu	$690
111 km or 69 mi	Bandirma	$679
113 km or 70 mi	Inegol	$708
121 km or 75 mi	Tekirdag	$661
124 km or 77 mi	Adapazari	$455
124 km or 77 mi	Sakarya	$547
129 km or 80 mi	Bilecik	$755
141 km or 88 mi	Luleburgaz	$661
166 km or 103 mi	Kirklareli	$642
176 km or 110 mi	Balikesir	$707
186 km or 115 mi	Duzce	$535
190 km or 118 mi	Eskisehir	$691
192 km or 120 mi	Uzunkopru	$652
197 km or 122 mi	Kutahya	$568
207 km or 129 mi	Burgas	$721
208 km or 129 mi	Karadeniz Eregli	$626
214 km or 133 mi	Edirne	$624
224 km or 139 mi	Bolu	$616
234 km or 145 mi	Soma	$679
236 km or 147 mi	Canakkale	$690
259 km or 161 mi	Varna	$892
260 km or 162 mi	Alexandroupoli	$911
261 km or 162 mi	Yambol	$546
261 km or 162 mi	Usak	$629
284 km or 177 mi	Afyonkarahisar	$464
287 km or 178 mi	Sliven	$631
290 km or 180 mi	Salihli	$677
290 km or 180 mi	Bartin	$710
295 km or 184 mi	Manisa	$638
296 km or 184 mi	Mytilene	$934
299 km or 186 mi	Komotini	$899

Cities near Thimphu

Distance	City	Cost of living
22 km or 14 mi	Paro	$459
147 km or 91 mi	Siliguri	$312
196 km or 122 mi	Rangpur	$296
203 km or 126 mi	Saidpur	$296
211 km or 131 mi	Shigatse	$900
214 km or 133 mi	Damak	$317
257 km or 159 mi	Raiganj	$309
257 km or 160 mi	Guwahati	$342
258 km or 160 mi	Biratnagar	$323
259 km or 161 mi	Dispur	$335
266 km or 166 mi	Balurghat	$307
280 km or 174 mi	Lhasa	$963
287 km or 178 mi	Purnia	$300
294 km or 183 mi	Bogra	$280
308 km or 191 mi	Shillong	$408
313 km or 195 mi	Malda	$308
313 km or 195 mi	Mymensingh	$264
350 km or 217 mi	Saharsa	$292
360 km or 224 mi	Bhagalpur	$282
362 km or 225 mi	Rajshahi	$274
364 km or 226 mi	Sylhet	$305
377 km or 234 mi	Janakpur	$292
401 km or 249 mi	Berhampore	$304
413 km or 257 mi	Narsingdi	$295
418 km or 260 mi	Brahmanbaria	$297
421 km or 262 mi	Kathmandu	$419
424 km or 264 mi	Lalitpur	$341
426 km or 265 mi	Dhaka	$430
438 km or 272 mi	Agartala	$367
439 km or 273 mi	Narayanganj	$309
444 km or 276 mi	Muzaffarpur	$288
454 km or 282 mi	Hetauda	$294
468 km or 291 mi	Krishnanagar	$281
474 km or 295 mi	Birgunj	$321
482 km or 299 mi	Jessore	$289
486 km or 302 mi	Shantipur	$294
493 km or 306 mi	Patna	$316
495 km or 308 mi	Durgapur	$292
500 km or 311 mi	Asansol	$299
502 km or 312 mi	Kulti	$300